[Mission Field News] Northern India to Be Raised Up with Leadership Like Joshua

Hello. My name is Iman, and I live in Northern India.

I was born into a Muslim family in Bihar, the state with the largest number of unreached people groups in India. Later, I came to Delhi to study and attended a Christian school that had been established in a Muslim area.

One day, I was deeply moved by the worship songs sung at school. Even after returning home, the songs remained in my heart. As I continued singing them, I encountered the presence of the Holy Spirit and accepted Jesus into my life.

After receiving Jesus on my own, I secretly attended church without my family's knowledge. At school, I met a Korean international student and began attending UBTJ worship services.

During last summer's vacation, I participated in a YVC gathering where I came to understand God's vision. From then on, I worshiped with even greater passion for my school and for the nations.

However, when my parents discovered that I believed in Jesus, they prevented me from going to school. I was confined at home and had to endure various forms of persecution.

It was only after three months that I was finally able to contact my Korean student friend. He told me that Korean youth would be coming to our school to hold a UBTJ worship service.

From that moment, I longed for worship each day and eagerly awaited that special day.

When the day finally arrived, I overcame the difficult circumstances and attended the UBTJ worship service. After the service, I made this confession and commitment:

"I never denied Jesus, even in front of my family. I want to serve Him faithfully until the end! From now on, I will no longer be afraid, and I will serve the church."

Hallelujah!

After that, whenever I prayed earnestly to attend worship services, my parents would allow me to go out for a short time, enabling me to attend church every week. Even during Ramadan, when attending worship was especially difficult, I held firmly to my faith and continued going to church. Hallelujah!

Now, I am serving Muslim and Hindu teenage friends who have also come to believe in Jesus, caring for them through God's Word and His love so that they can worship as well.

My hope is that through me, my family will also come to know Jesus. As I secretly read the Book of Acts at home, I desire to become like the apostles who preached the Gospel with their lives. I, too, will boldly proclaim the Gospel, faithfully serve the souls entrusted to me by the Lord, and keep my faith in Jesus until the very end.

Please pray that through me, 10,000 MBBs (Muslim Background Believers), who will lay down their lives with the Lord in the spirit of the Apostle Thomas as promised by God, will arise!

"At that time I commanded Joshua, saying, 'Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing. Do not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.'" (Deuteronomy 3:21–22)

Lord, thank You for loving our brother Iman, leading him to a Christian school, and bringing him to faith in Jesus through worship.

Thank You also for allowing him to encounter Your heart for his school and for the nations through UBTJ worship, and for revealing Your vision to him more deeply through the YVC gathering. How great is the grace that has renewed him with passion for the Gospel!

Strengthen him to overcome persecution within his family. Through the gifts You have given him to serve other Muslim and Hindu youth, may many more young people throughout Northern India break through persecution and serve the nations with God's vision.

For this purpose, may Iman's family soon come to know Jesus and rise together as a church that serves the souls entrusted by the Lord.

May the church in India also serve and disciple young people like Iman, nurturing them in faith and running toward the evangelization of all nations with the vision that calls every generation.

And so, may Northern India trust in the Lord God who fights alongside His people in every spiritual battle. May it rise like Joshua for every nation and people group and fulfill the mission of sending out 10,000 MBBs!